Letters to the editor: March 27

Hypocritical move on guns by Comcast

Regarding the recent announcement by Comcast to stop airing gun-related commercials, it strikes me as extremely hypocritical that they seem to have no qualms with airing television shows and movies that glorify violence, particular that perpetrated by individuals with guns.

One could almost forgive them for supporting the airing of historically based shows that contain such violence, but they have no excuse for airing anything else in light of their decision to abandon legal, law-abiding gun related businesses.

Furthermore, their hypocrisy is heightened by their lack of similar concern or action with regard to alcohol and cars, two things that kill hundreds, if not thousands, more teens and children every year than any gun deaths; those commercials appear to run without hesitation by Comcast.

It is sad that a corporation seeks to impact our nation's social policy beyond what its citizens' voices cause, whether pro or con for this issue. To my knowledge, Comcast and other companies taking similar positions, such as Bank of America, don't get and should not have a "vote."

Tim Cahoon

West Point

Need to stop Rockport coal-to-gas plant

Wednesday may be the last chance for the Indiana House to prevent the construction of a dirty coal-to-gas plant in Rockport. Building the plant would be a terrible step backward, not forward, on regional, national, and global scales.

If it were built, customers would pay nearly $1.1 billion during the first eight years of operation. But that's only the monetary cost. It excludes all the additional costs in terms of pollution and climate change. Coal burning contributes substantially to smog and acid rain, it leaves behind huge amounts of toxic sludge, and it is the main source of human-generated mercury, which can cause brain damage. Even worse, coal has the highest carbon content of any fuel, so burning it emits the most CO2 for each unit of energy that is gained.

Hence, coal-to-gas plants are among the biggest causes of global warming. Yes, global warming, which, despite our unusually cold spring, is a solid scientific fact. In the world's top scientific journals, what's being debated is not the existence of human-caused climate change, but how far we can let it continue before it spirals out of our control, with apocalyptic consequences by the end of the century.

Suppose a giant asteroid was known to be headed straight for Earth, and the only unknown was when exactly it would strike. Of course, everyone would immediately focus on preventing the impact from occurring at all. The same attitude toward global warming is urgently needed now.